Climate change and rising seas

Scientific research indicates that sea levels world-wide have been rising at a rate of 0.14 inches (3.5 millimetres) a year since the early 1990s. The trend, linked to global warming, puts thousands of coastal cities, and even whole islands, at risk of being claimed by the ocean.

Core samples, tide gauge readings, and, most recently, satellite measurements tell us that over the past century, the global mean sea level has risen by four to eight inches. However, the annual rise rate over the past 20 years has been 0.13 inches a year, roughly twice the average rate of the preceding 80 years.

Over the past century, the burning of fossil fuels and other human and natural activities have released enormous amounts of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere which have caused the Earth’s surface temperature to rise.

The oceans absorb about 80 percent of this additional heat and when water heats up, it expands.

About half of the past century’s rise in sea level is attributable to warmer oceans simply occupying more space.

Large ice formations, like glaciers and the polar ice caps, naturally melt each summer. However, recently, persistently higher temperatures caused by global warming have led to greater-than-average summer meltings. Data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center, all in the US, the Met Office Hadley Centre/Climatic Research Unit in the UK and the Japanese Meteorological Agency all show rapid warming in recent decades with the last decade been the warmest on record.

In August 2016, due to the melting ice, a cruise ship, the 68,670- ton Crystal Serenity, with 1,070 passengers on board, was able to navigate through the previously impassible waters of Alaska’s Northwest Passage through Nunavut to Greenland, Boston and ending in New York.

When sea levels rise rapidly, even a small increase can have devastating effects on coastal habitats. As seawater reaches further inland, it can cause destructive erosion, flooding of wetlands, contamination of aquifers and agricultural soils, and loss of habitat for fish, birds, and plants.

Hundreds of millions of people live in coastal areas that will become increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Higher sea levels would force them to abandon their homes and relocate to higher ground.

Low-lying islands, including some in the Caribbean, could be submerged completely.

Already, some of the islands of Kiribati in the South Pacific are under water and its Government has purchased land in the Fiji Islands, 2,150 miles to the north-east, in preparation for the relocation of its population of 113,000 people, should this become necessary. For comparison of distance, Miami is 1,622 miles north-west of Trinidad and Tobago.

Most predictions indicate that the warming of our planet will continue and will likely accelerate.

Oceans will continue to rise, but predicting the amount is an inexact science. We in TT are concerned about now, and not with what may happen in the future. Lands at Invaders Bay are on the front burner.

These and other low-lying lands at Westmoorings could be inundated by rising seas in the future.

There are just under 900 sea-level monitoring stations throughout the world of which four are in TT, one each in Port-of-Spain, Cedros, Scarborough and Charlotteville.

One of the foremost monitoring agencies is the Caribbean Planning and Adaptation to Climate Change Agency.

It is desirable that institutions such as the UWI , the Meteorological Services and the Institute of Marine Affairs keep Trinis aware of climate change and of rising sea levels.